Author: administrator

St. Edward’s Monday Message – August 31, 2020

administrator

Dear friends and parishioners,

St. Edward’s is alive in our faith, our community, and our worship as we walk in love, together.   Many announcements were put forward in our Sunday worship bulletin yesterday and we would like to make them available to all of you to review, mark your calendars, and we hope you will participate during these upcoming months.

Click here to review our Prayer and Adult Spiritual Formation offerings.

Click here to review our upcoming Cultural Event on September 13th at 3:00 PM.

Click here to learn more about our Talent Show search.

—

This week we invite your participation in the Shaped by Faith initiative. We are asking each parishioner to participate in a brief Anglican Identity Assessment which is available online at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9G39Y5H

If more than one person needs to complete the assessment on the same computer, you will need to close the browser all the way bank to the beginning before starting the next one. Otherwise, you may get a message that says the assessment was already completed.

The assessments will be forwarded directly to the Diocese where they will be tabulated and returned to the parish minus any identifying data.  The Shaped by Faith team will use the data is we proceed through our work with our regional group of parishes.

We are asking you to please complete this assessment by September 15!

Thank you for your cooperation and support!

Shaped by Faith Team
Father Rick, Julie Hoff, and Herb Johnston

—
In case you missed it!  Our Sunday 10:15 AM Rite II service.

Such a wonderful prayer to keep tucked in your mind for the week from the booklet, For Starters, that was penned by The Rt. Rev. Michael W. Creighton, when he was rector of St. Stephens Church in Seattle:

Dear God, thank you for this morning’s forecast.  The Son is shining in my heart, and I expect Grace to be gently blowing in from the east at 10 mph.  The precipitation of the last few days is gone from my eyes, and due to the high pressure system of love, my anxiety level is down.  Tomorrow there is a chance of dark, patchy clouds over my life, but not enough to prevent the Son from rising and being with me every day.  Thank you for this most glorious day.  Amen.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

– Michelle

—
MINISTRY HAPPENINGS AT ST. EDWARD’S
FOOD PANTRY:  We invite people to continue to donate funds to our Hempfield Area Food Pantry.  The need continues.   This is an amazing response to the needs of our wider community and we thank you all!

GROCERY CARDS: We have had a great response to the grocery card program and they will be ordered this week and available by Sunday, September 6th.   We will connect with you to make sure we get them to you, either via your parish mailbox or to arrange for you to pick them up when the church is open.
—

MINISTRY, WORSHIP & FELLOWSHIP THIS WEEK
Wednesday Noonday Service of Healing – Wednesday, September 2nd
Please enter through the parish hall doors. Masks are required. We have put in place healthy practices for your comfort and safety.

Friday Evening Prayer – September 4th
We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM.  This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.
Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code:  863 2710 5082

Sunday Service Online – Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 17 – August 30, 2020

administrator

Dear friends of St. Edward’s,

We welcome you to online worship this weekend.

For those who feel comfortable with coming to church, we are fortunate to be able to hold in-person worship on Sundays at 8 AM – Rite I and 10:15 AM – Rite II. We hope that you will join us!  We continue to follow healthy practices for your comfort and safety and we are mindfully complying with mitigation efforts through the governor’s office, as well as our diocesan office.

Please know that we extend our warm invitation of worship to those in the wider community and those parishioners who are still at home, via YouTube Live, with our live streaming service each Sunday. We are one community of faith and we are worshipping together!

Click here to connect to our YouTube Channel to enjoy our Sunday service of Holy Eucharist Rite II LIVE at 10:15 AM on Sunday, August 30th.

Click here to download the Sunday Service 10:15 AM bulletin – Rite II

If you prefer the said service of Rite I, we have provided our service bulletin for you to download and enjoy the service.

Click here to download the Sunday Service 8 AM bulletin – Rite I

A message from Amy Swiernik: Good News!! The cancer has not spread beyond the thyroid so the surgeries and the radiation has killed everything at the thyroid and I am cancer free!!! Now we will get my hormones stabilized and just watch and monitor the throat from here on out. Thanks be to God and thank you, all, for your prayers. I am beyond appreciative of everyone’s support.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to share with you important announcements that are in our paper bulletin on Sundays, that may be of interest to you, at home, regarding upcoming events, as well as prayer and adult spiritual formation opportunities starting in September.

Join us, at St. Edward’s, for wonderful offerings, each week, of prayer and adult spiritual formation, via Zoom, commencing in September. Click here to learn more.

First, click here to view our flier for our talent search for our upcoming Variety Show fundraiser on October 24th. In partnership with our Cultural Events ministry, the fundraising committee will be putting on a Variety Show/Basket Auction event for our BIG fall fundraiser, this year, along with offering a lovely casual boxed dinner (think: no cooking while you watch the live streamed event!) that can be purchased and picked up prior to the live streamed evening event. For this to be a success, we need YOUR TALENT!  It is all is the spirit of community, fun, and fundraising!

Second, we will be hosting a very special live streamed musical event featuring Maria Thompson Corley: pianist, soloist, collaborator, and composer on Sunday, September 13th at 3:00 PM. Click here for information on this exciting Cultural Event.

Besides prayers, calls, cards and emails, there is one more thing you can do to support St. Edward’s during this time. Please keep up-to-date with your pledge or regular contribution.  Pledges/giving can be mailed to the church, and we also have an easy-to-use “Give to St. Edward’s” button on our website that links to our secure Paypal page.  We have had several people engage with this newly installed Paypal giving button with great success, so please consider that as an easy way to support St. Edward’s.

To assist parishes, the diocese has set up online giving for each parish.  If you feel comfortable making your weekly giving or pledge donation in this manner (it is a secure giving tool), simply go to the diocesan web site, click on the tab up top and it will take you to a page where you can scroll down, find St. Edward’s, and continue with making your contribution!  Thank you for maintaining your faithfulness through your financial stewardship!

Click here if you would like to donate online through the diocesan portal. You will scroll down to find St. Edward’s under Lancaster. The portal is a secure giving site.

To learn more about St. Edward’s, please click our website, YouTube, or Facebook icons at the bottom of this email.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

– Michelle

St. Edward’s Thursday Message – August 27, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

Look for all links related to Sunday worship on our usual Saturday afternoon posting.

Phase One Memorial Garden project continues.  Weather permitting, we anticipate the wood sculptor will start carving our tree for stage one of the Celtic Cross design this Saturday. Many of the design elements, such as the 5′ circle and the 7′ arm are crafted in his workshop and then will be brought here to install.  We have also placed the frame for the positioning of the monument, which is staked out in the garden. And, with the review and approval from vestry, we have purchased our water element feature, to be delivered and installed in conjunction with our landscaping.  We reviewed samples of our paver stone  from Penn Stone, and the layout pattern in “real time.”   We are also scheduled to have Brubaker install an outdoor outlet for the water feature and allows us electricity access for upkeep and outdoor functions.    To learn about all of the specifics of our progress with the care and beautification of this sacred space, please click here to visit our web site page. 

—
Giant and Stauffers Grocery Card Program

We have had interest in resuming the 2 grocery card programs.  Right now, we have orders for $800 in Giant cards and $650 in SKH cards.  We need to have a minimum of $1,000 in each program to successfully relaunch for September.  Please contact the parish office by Monday, August 31st.  It is a great way for St. Edward’s to earn 5% in passive fundraising income.  Our first resumed order would be delivered on Sunday, September 6th if we have enough people willing to participate.
—
Hempfield Area Food Pantry

We are so thankful for all of the monetary (and food) donations that continue to come into our office through the generosity of our parishioners for our local Hempfield Area Food Pantry.

Current food requests are:
One or 2 pound packages of rice, canned fruit (no fruit cocktail no Mandarin oranges)
Canned tomatoes, canned peas, canned kidney beans, canned soup (no chicken noodle) and cereal.

If you would like to donate food, please bring on Sunday and drop in baskets in the narthex.  If you would like to donate food and do not come to services but would like a curbside drop-off, please call the parish office to make arrangements. We want to make certain we are here to accept your donation.
—    
We leave you with a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer For Those Who Live Alone 

Almighty God, whose Son had nowhere to lay his head: Grant that those who live alone may not be lonely in their solitude, but that, following in his steps, they may find fulfillment in loving you and their neighbors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Continue reading below for the details for our Friday and Saturday worship and fellowship activities.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

Michelle

We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM.  This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.

Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code:  863 2710 5082

—
Join us for our Virtual Saturday Social from 9 AM – 9:40 AM Saturday morning on Zoom.  It will be hosted by Christina McLaughlin. It’s a great time to get together and say hi to your fellow parishioners. We look forward to sharing some time of fellowship THIS SATURDAY, August 29th at 9:00 AM.

We are considering alternative times for our coffee/social hour commencing after Labor Day weekend.  But, we want to hear from you!  If a coffee/social hour is something you would participate in, please email the parish office by September 1st and let us know the following:

(1)  Do you like the current Saturday 9 AM time and will you participate in the fall?
(2)  Do you like the Saturday option, but 10 AM would enable you to participate more fully?
(3)  Would you participate if the coffee/social time was moved to Sundays at 12:15?


ZOOM JOIN CODE:  419 646 4139
ZOOM PASSCODE:  449312

St. Edward’s Monday Message – August 24, 2020

administrator

Dear friends and parishioners,

We are now gearing up for a fall that is full of events, ministry, and formation offerings, so we hope you find these thrice-weekly email messages of keen interest as we have a lot to share!  St. Edward’s is alive in our faith, our community, and our worship as we walk in love, together, with strength, courage, and gladness of heart.

—

Today, we’d like to share what our Shaped by Faith team has been doing in recent months.  The team is charged to work with a regional group of parishes in our Diocese to examine our future together. Projects will explore congregational vitality and values, financial sustainability, God’s call in the neighborhood, and new models for being church. These projects will take place throughout the Diocese from 2019-2021.

The Lancaster Episcopal churches held their first meeting with the Diocesan leadership in February of 2020 at St. John’s, Lancaster. The Shaped by Faith initiative was introduced and we examined realities and trends within our Diocese. Following this meeting, individual parishes formulated their teams of rector, a warden, and a parishioner.  Our team consists of Father Rick Bauer, Julie Hoff, and Herb Johnston.  Amy Swiernik is the lay representative at the Diocesan level of Shaped by Faith.

With the onset of Covid-19 our bimonthly in-person meeting schedule was put on hold.  However, we have been meeting by Zoom and looking at the new ways of being church we are all experiencing during this Covidtide. We have also participated in Webinars on Anglican Identity, Mission and Sustainability, and Self-Differentiated Leadership.These are available for your viewing at the Diocesan website: diocesecpa.org  Click on menu and select Shaped by Faith. You will see all the Shaped by Faith offerings available for your use. We encourage you to take advantage of these resources.

There are also interesting webinars spanning a wide variety of topics pertaining to Shaped by Faith, which you may find interesting.  Click here to learn more

We invite your support of this effort and look forward to your participation as we progress in this Shaped by Faith journey together!

Shaped by Faith Team,

Father Rick, Julie, and Herb

—
Click here to view our Sunday service of Rite II from August 23rd

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

– Michelle

—
MINISTRY HAPPENINGS AT ST. EDWARD’S
We want to take this opportunity to share with you important announcements that are in our paper bulletin on Sundays, that may be of interest to you, at home, regarding upcoming events, both at St. Edward’s and in our wider community.

First,click here to view our flier for our talent search for our upcoming Variety Show fundraiser on October 24th. In partnership with our Cultural Events ministry, the fundraising committee will be putting on a Variety Show/Basket Auction event for our BIG fall fundraiser, this year, along with offering a lovely casual boxed dinner (think: no cooking while you watch the live streamed event!) that can be purchased and picked up prior to the YouTube virtual evening event. For this to be a success, we need YOUR TALENT!  It is all is the spirit of community, fun, and fundraising!

Second, we will be hosting a very special live streamed musical event featuring Maria Thompson Corley: pianist, soloist, collaborator, and composer on Sunday, September 13th at 3:00 PM. Click here for information on this exciting Cultural Event.

Lastly, the Arts at MU has listed an event on their calendar, as follows, that sounds very exciting:

Xun Pan FREE Livestream Concert
“Beginning of Beethoven’s Middle Period”
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 7:30 P.M.
FROM STEINMAN HALL – THE WARE CENTER

Kick of the fall season with Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Celebration! The series that began last fall continues with four concerts. The first commemorates the “Beginning of Beethoven’s Middle Period” on Friday, August 28, and will be live streamed for FREE on the internet from the Ware Center at 7:30 p.m.

Visit https://artsmu.com/ on or after Wednesday, August 26 to get a link to the live stream and additional concert information.

—
We invite people to continue to donate funds to our Hempfield Area Food Pantry.  The need continues.  Just since our last check to the pantry on August 14th, we have raised an additional $650+ in monetary donations, some through St. Edward’s, as well as parishioners who have told us they have contributed funds directly to the food pantry.  This is an amazing response to the needs of our wider community and we thank you all!

Card Ministry:  As we have messaged throughout the summer, through the generosity of Thomas Ishler, we have had a wonderful selection of greeting cards at St. Edward’s over the past few months, for those who are able, to come, browse and select and make a free will offering.  As we approach September, we have found a “home” for these cards through Community Aid.  They are very excited to receive them and they will go to good use in helping them in their community mission.   A wonderful way to “pass it on” versus discarding these gifts brought to us through faithful ministry.  So. . .if you are interested in doing some card shopping, do not despair!  We will not be transferring them to Community Aid until the week of September 14th.   We thank Thomas, again, for his  generosity in providing this ministry to St. Edward’s over the summer!

GROCERY CARDS:  I have only received responses from 2 people regarding Giant and Stauffer’s grocery cards for September.  Unfortunately, if we do not have a minimum of $1,000 in grocery cards, for each store, we will be unable to restart this program at this time.  Please contact the parish office no later than this Friday, August 28th, if you would like cards starting in September.
—

MINISTRY, WORSHIP & FELLOWSHIP THIS WEEK

Wednesday Noonday Service of Healing – Wednesday, August 26th
Please enter through the parish hall doors. Masks are required. We have put in place healthy practices for your comfort and safety.

Bible Study – Wednesday, August 26th 6:30 PM via Zoom – Session Two will be finishing this week and please read below for messaging regarding Session Three:

Session 3 of our Contemporary Bible Study ZOOM Meetings will begin on Wednesday, September 9th from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM and continue every Wednesday thereafter.  Participants in previous sessions have found the meeting discussions to be interesting, relevant to today’s world/local events, and a great forum in which to connect with St. Edward’s Church members.  The Study Guide for Session 3 will be:

All Things New, A Study On 2 Corinthians by Kelly Minter.

As long as COVID-19 protocols and restrictions remain in effect, meetings will be continue to be held on-line until virus restrictions are lifted.
For information and an invitation to the ZOOM meetings, please contact Bill ([email protected]) or Yvonne ([email protected]).

We look forward to connecting with you during the upcoming session.

Bill and Yvonne Gasperetti

Friday Evening Prayer – August 28th
We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM.  This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.
Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code:  863 2710 5082

Sunday Service Online: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 16 – August 23, 2020

administrator

Dear friends of St. Edward’s,

We welcome you to online worship this weekend.

For those who feel comfortable with coming to church, we are fortunate to be able to hold in-person worship on Sundays at 8 AM – Rite I and 10:15 AM – Rite II. We hope that you will join us!  We continue to follow healthy practices for your comfort and safety and we are mindfully complying with mitigation efforts through the governor’s office, as well as our diocesan office.

Please know that we extend our warm invitation of worship to those in the wider community and those parishioners who are still at home, via YouTube Live, with our live streaming service each Sunday. We are one community of faith and we are worshipping together!

Click here to connect to our YouTube Channel to enjoy our Sunday service of Holy Eucharist Rite II LIVE at 10:15 AM on Sunday, August 23rd.

Click here to download the Sunday Service 10:15 AM bulletin – Rite II

If you prefer the said service of Rite I, we have provided our service bulletin for you to download and enjoy the service.

Click here to download the Sunday Service 8 AM bulletin – Rite I

We also wanted to take this opportunity to share with you important announcements that are in our paper bulletin on Sundays, that may be of interest to you, at home, regarding upcoming events, both at St. Edward’s and in our wider community.

First, click here to view our flier for our talent search for our upcoming Variety Show fundraiser on October 24th. In partnership with our Cultural Events ministry, the fundraising committee will be putting on a Variety Show/Basket Auction event for our BIG fall fundraiser, this year, along with offering a lovely casual boxed dinner (think: no cooking while you watch the event!) that can be purchased and picked up prior to the YouTube virtual evening event. For this to be a success, we need YOUR TALENT! It is all in the spirit of community, fun, and fundraising!

Second, we will be hosting a very special live streamed musical event featuring Maria Thompson Corley: pianist, soloist, collaborator, and composer on Sunday, September 13th at 3:00 PM. Click here for information on this exciting Cultural Event.

Lastly, the Arts at MU has listed an event on their calendar, as follows, that sounds very exciting:

Xun Pan FREE Livestream Concert

“Beginning of Beethoven’s Middle Period”

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 7:30 P.M.

FROM STEINMAN HALL – THE WARE CENTER

Kick of the fall season with Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Celebration! The series that began last fall continues with four concerts. The first commemorates the “Beginning of Beethoven’s Middle Period” on Friday, August 28, and will be live streamed for FREE on the internet from the Ware Center at 7:30 p.m.

Visit https://artsmu.com/ on or after Wednesday, August 26 to get a link to the live stream and additional concert information.

Besides prayers, calls, cards and emails, there is one more thing you can do to support St. Edward’s during this time. Please keep up-to-date with your pledge or regular contribution.  Pledges/giving can be mailed to the church, and we also have an easy-to-use “Give to St. Edward’s” button on our website that links to our secure Paypal page.  We have had several people engage with this newly installed Paypal giving button with great success, so please consider that as an easy way to support St. Edward’s.

To assist parishes, the diocese has set up online giving for each parish.  If you feel comfortable making your weekly giving or pledge donation in this manner (it is a secure giving tool), simply go to the diocesan web site, click on the tab up top and it will take you to a page where you can scroll down, find St. Edward’s, and continue with making your contribution!  Thank you for maintaining your faithfulness through your financial stewardship!

Click here if you would like to donate online through the diocesan portal. You will scroll down to find St. Edward’s under Lancaster. The portal is a secure giving site.

We believe that God loves you – no exceptions.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

– Michelle

St. Edward’s Thursday Message – August 20, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

Look for all links related to Sunday worship on our usual Saturday afternoon posting.

So many glorious things happening at St. Edward’s this week!  Here’s an update:

We are starting to receive our new Ordinary Time (green season) altar hangings and they will look beautiful.  We hope to be celebrating with these new altar hangings by Sunday, September 20th.

We have completed the new lighting project for the sanctuary in the choir and praise band area, as well as the lectern area on the altar, and it brings such wonderful lighting to these spaces.

We are also in full motion with our Phase One Memorial Garden project.  To learn about all of the specifics of our progress with the care and beautification of this sacred space, please click here to visit our web site page.

We have continued ministry support with small carpentry/housekeeping projects and the care and feeding of our landscaped spaces by faithful parishioners.

All of these projects would not happen without the strong support of you, our St. Edward’s parishioners, and our friends of St. Edward’s.  For these expressions of generosity and continued grace, we most heartily thank you all.

—
Giant and Stauffers Grocery Card Program

If you are interested in starting to order your SKH or Giant grocery cards, or are interested in being a new participant in our grocery card program, please contact the parish office by Monday, August 31st.  It is a great way for St. Edward’s to earn 5% in passive fundraising income and while we had suspended the program during this Covidtide, it has been expressed that people may be interested in having it go back in place.  Our first resumed order would be delivered on Sunday, September 6th if we have enough people willing to participate.
—
Hempfield Area Food Pantry

We are so thankful for all of the monetary (and food) donations that continue to come into our office through the generosity of our parishioners for our local Hempfield Area Food Pantry.

Current food requests are:
One or 2 pound packages of rice, canned fruit (no fruit cocktail no Mandarin oranges)
Canned tomatoes, canned peas, canned kidney beans, canned soup (no chicken noodle) and cereal.

If you would like to donate food, please bring on Sunday and drop in baskets in the narthex.  If you would like to donate food and do not come to services but would like a curbside drop-off, please call the parish office to make arrangements. We want to make certain we are here to accept your donation.
—
We leave you with a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer for In the Evening

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.  Then in thy mercy, grant us safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last.  Amen.

Continue reading below for the details for our Friday and Saturday worship and fellowship activities.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

Michelle

We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM.  This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.

Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code:  863 2710 5082

—
Join us for our Virtual Saturday Social from 9 AM – 9:40 AM Saturday morning on Zoom.  It will be hosted by Christina McLaughlin. It’s a great time to get together and say hi to your fellow parishioners. We look forward to sharing some time of fellowship THIS SATURDAY, August 22nd at 9:00 AM.

We are considering alternative times for our coffee/social hour commencing after Labor Day weekend.  But, we want to hear from you!  If a coffee/social hour is something you would participate in, please email the parish office by September 1st and let us know the following:

(1)  Do you like the current Saturday 9 AM time and will you participate in the fall?
(2)  Do you like the Saturday option, but 10 AM would enable you to participate more fully?
(3)  Would you participate if the coffee/social time was moved to Sundays at 12:15?

Your pass code and join code are in the email from Thursday.

St. Edward’s Monday Message – August 17, 2020

administrator

Dear friends and parishioners,

We open with a special message from fellow parishioner, Amy Swiernik:

Dear Fellow Edwardians,

My heart burst with joy each time I receive a card or encouraging email or text from one of you! It has been really uplifting to get mail during my battle, especially during this time of isolation from Covid-19 and I am not able to come to Sunday services. There have been a few meals delivered as well and a watermelon that I was dying to have! All has been very much appreciated.  The beautiful prayer shawl and hand cross have been a Godsend as well.  Sometimes you just get a chill and need to be wrapped in love and comfort. I can’t thank you all enough for keeping me in your prayers and supporting us during this crazy journey.  The next two weeks will be the hardest as I undergo the radioactive iodine treatment and totally isolate from the world for five days, have scans and Doctor appointments.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Again, Thank You!

Blessings and Love to you all,

Amy Swiernik

On behalf of the St. Edward’s Shaped by Faith Team of Julie Hoff, Herb Johnston, and Father Rick, along with our diocesan liaison, Amy Swiernik, we would like to share with you news and information regarding Shaped by Faith.  Featured on the diocesan website are courses offered by Shaped By Faith at the Stevenson School for Ministry.  These are classes that are offered to help all of us, as a congregation, continue our faith journey in a variety of topics.  We hope you find these of interest with topics that include:  Racial Justice and the Body of Christ; Missional Stewardship: Investing in What Matters to God; and  Doing Politics Through the Lens of Faith  Click here to learn more about the courses and how you can register

You may also want to visit the diocesan website by clicking this text to learn more about Shaped by Faith

There are also interesting webinars spanning a wide variety of topics pertaining to Shaped by Faith, which you may find interesting.  Click here to learn more

Below you can view our Rite II service from Sunday, August 16th.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

– Michelle

—

MINISTRY HAPPENINGS AT ST. EDWARD’S

Our major projects of Memorial Garden beautification; Fall Fundraiser event; St. Edward’s Cookbook/Artistic project to benefit Social Outreach Ministries; as well as our installation of new sanctuary choir area, lectern, and praise band area lighting; and the launching of our fall live stream cultural events line up are very much “in the works” this week, so stay tuned for details and photos!  We are a vibrant parish and we thank each and every one of you for keeping our ministry and community alive and flourishing, even in this season of Covidtide.  We are, truly, all in this together!

We invite people to continue to donate funds to our Hempfield Area Food Pantry.  The need continues.

–

MINISTRY, WORSHIP & FELLOWSHIP THIS WEEK

Wednesday Noonday Service of Healing – Wednesday, August 19th
Please enter through the parish hall doors. Masks are required. We have put in place healthy practices for your comfort and safety. May we ask that you please let the parish office know if you are planning on attending (if you have not already done so).

Friday Evening Prayer – August 21st
We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM.  This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.
Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code:  863 2710 5082

Sunday Service Online: Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 15 – August 16, 2020

administrator

Dear friends of St. Edward’s,

We welcome you to online worship this weekend.

For those who feel comfortable with coming to church, we are fortunate to be able to hold in-person worship on Sundays at 8 AM – Rite I and 10:15 AM – Rite II. We hope that you will join us!  We continue to follow healthy practices for your comfort and safety and we are mindfully complying with mitigation efforts through the governor’s office, as well as our diocesan office.

Please know that we extend our warm invitation of worship to those in the wider community and those parishioners who are still at home, via YouTube Live, with our live streaming service each Sunday. We are one community of faith and we are worshipping together!

Click here to connect to our YouTube Channel to enjoy our Sunday service of Holy Eucharist Rite II LIVE at 10:15 AM on Sunday, August 16th.

Click here to download the Sunday Service 10:15 AM bulletin – Rite II

If you prefer the said service of Rite I, we have provided our service bulletin for you to download and enjoy the service.

Click here to download the Sunday Service 8 AM bulletin – Rite I

As we end our week and approach our day of rest, let us say a prayer For Quiet Confidence from the Book of Common Prayer:

O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 

Besides prayers, calls, cards and emails, there is one more thing you can do to support St. Edward’s during this time. Please keep up-to-date with your pledge or regular contribution.  Pledges/giving can be mailed to the church, and we also have an easy-to-use “Give to St. Edward’s” button on our website that links to our secure Paypal page.  We have had several people engage with this newly installed Paypal giving button with great success, so please consider that as an easy way to support St. Edward’s.

To assist parishes, the diocese has set up online giving for each parish.  If you feel comfortable making your weekly giving or pledge donation in this manner (it is a secure giving tool), simply go to the diocesan web site, click on the tab up top and it will take you to a page where you can scroll down, find St. Edward’s, and continue with making your contribution!  Thank you for maintaining your faithfulness through your financial stewardship!

Click here if you would like to donate online through the diocesan portal. You will scroll down to find St. Edward’s under Lancaster. The portal is a secure giving site.

We believe that God loves you – no exceptions.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

– Michelle

St. Edward’s Thursday Message – August 13, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

Look for all links related to Sunday worship on Saturday afternoon.

Stay tuned in upcoming weeks for emails and fliers related to our Variety Show/Basket Auction fundraiser; updates on our Memorial Garden beautification project; upcoming live streamed cultural events in the fall, new ministry session starting in September for Bible Study, and much more!

As we gear up for a fall with some very exciting ministry and community fellowship planned, we also look forward to a little “summer deep breath” time as well, to enjoy the remainder of longer summer days, the blue sky, and warm breezes.  What we do know as truth is that St. Edward’s is alive and vibrant and that is so because of the ministry and faithfulness of all of you who are a part of our parish family.

Also, the Scepter will return in September!!    Scepter pictures, articles and announcements for the September Scepter are due Thursday August 20th. Please send items to [email protected].

Hempfield Area Food Pantry

We are so thankful for all of the monetary (and food) donations that continue to come into our office through the generosity of our parishioners for our local Hempfield Area Food Pantry.

Current food requests are:
One or 2 pound packages of rice, canned fruit (no fruit cocktail no Mandarin oranges)
Canned tomatoes, canned peas, canned kidney beans, canned soup (no chicken noodle) and cereal.

If you would like to donate food, please bring on Sunday and drop in baskets in the narthex.  If you would like to donate food and do not come to services but would like a curbside drop-off, please call the parish office to make arrangements. We want to make certain we are here to accept your donation.
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I came across a lovely small publication that Bishop Michael W. Creighton, Diocese of Central Pennsylvania from 1995-2006, authored for Forward Movement in 1988 when he was a rector of St. Stephen’s Church in Seattle, Washington. They are lovely prayers.  Here is our offering of one for the end of this week that he wrote for summer:

Bless you, Father, for  the summertime, when I can take my ship of life in for repairs.  Repair every crack in my spirit, every leak in my life, every rotten timber in my character.  O Lord, make me seaworthy, that I may continue in the journey ahead, and weather life with that inward grace and strength that comes from You.  Amen.

Continue reading below for the details for our Friday and Saturday worship and fellowship activities.

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

Michelle

We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM.  This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.

Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code:  863 2710 5082

—

Join us for our Virtual Saturday Social from 9 AM – 9:40 AM Saturday morning on Zoom.  It will be hosted by Christina McLaughlin. It’s a great time to get together and say hi to your fellow parishioners. We look forward to sharing some time of fellowship THIS SATURDAY, August 15th at 9:00 AM.

St. Edward’s Monday Message – August 10, 2020

administrator

Dear friends and parishioners,

To start your week, we share with you a lovely image from Friday, once the storm had cleared from St. Edward’s, with this poem about nature and life from Emily Dickinson.

The rainbow never tells me
That gust and storm are by,
Yet is she more convincing
Than Philosophy.

My flowers turn from Forums—
Yet eloquent declare
What Cato couldn’t prove me
Except the birds were here!
– Emily Dickinson

Missed the Sunday service?  You can watch it here!

Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.

– Michelle

—
MINISTRY HAPPENINGS AT ST. EDWARD’S

VARIETY SHOW/TAKE-OUT DINNER/BASKET AUCTION:  Stay tuned in the next week as we will be sending out information on our variety show/call for talent as well as tease some details about our October 24th Fundraising Event.  It is going to be FUN!

COOKBOOK MINISTRY
We’ve received some wonderful recipes, creative writing, and photos.  We hope others will consider contributing their talents to this project.  If you have a creative spirit or reflections, but no recipe, we welcome your contribution.  If you have recipes, only, that is wonderful, too!

GREETING CARD MINISTRY
If you have not had a chance to stop buy and “shop” for greeting cards, we invite you to our greeting card ministry.  Thomas Ishler was able to secure quite a bounty of greeting cards from a pharmacy that was closing its doors in Lancaster County. We have set them up in the Christian Ed wing in safe and healthy spaces for people to browse the cards, make their selections, and consider a free-will offering.  Bring your own “green” shopping bag to fill up.  In our season of Covidtide, card writing is a great way to reach out to those who you miss so dearly. We also encourage people to reach out to others they know and perhaps put together packets of cards to give away.  We hope to see you soon!  Please come in any day, Monday – Friday between 10:30 AM – 4:00 PM.

MINISTRY, WORSHIP & FELLOWSHIP THIS WEEK
Finance Committee Meeting – Tuesday, August 11th at 6:30 PM via Zoom

Wednesday Noonday Service of Healing – Wednesday, August 12th
Please enter through the parish hall doors. Masks are required. We have put in place healthy practices for your comfort and safety. May we ask that you please let the parish office know if you are planning on attending (if you have not already done so).

Bible Study – Wednesday, August 12th
Led by Bill and Yvonne Gasperetti.  For more information about upcoming Bible Study sessions, please contact Bill at [email protected] or Yvonne at [email protected].  This is the 2nd to last Bible Study meeting for Session 2.  Session 3 begins on September 9th and will be a weekly meeting.  If you are interested in joining the group for Session 3, please contact Bill or Yvonne.

Friday Evening Prayer – August 14th
We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM.  This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.
Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code:  863 2710 5082

School Supplies Drive 2020 for Landisville Primary Center

Due to the overwhelming generosity and kindness of our parishoners, we have enough supplies to completely cover the needs of 30 school children at the Landisville Primary Center. We were also able to purchase a $100 gift card to give to the school to cover some of the additional needs of the students.

We received $505.00 in monetary donations. Finn was my super helper at Target. He did the calculations and counted out all of the 40+ expo marker packages that we bought today. Many thanks also to Dina for helping to count and record all of our donated supplies and to Beth for finding additional hand sanitizer and tissues. I am simply overwhelmed by how everyone pitched in to help our neighboring school children in this time of need.

Peace, Ellen

Thanks be to God!!!  Ellen, your leadership on this has been absolutely stellar, and it feels like such a grace to walk in Christ with such a loving and responsive group of folks.  Go St. Ed’s!
Rick+